Written Answers Tuesday 30 August 2005

Scottish Executive

Care of Elderly People

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to monitor cross-border flows in respect of the uptake of free personal care.

Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Executive does not monitor cross-border flows in respect of the uptake of free personal care.

Digital Hearing Aids

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-12998 by Rhona Brankin on 18 January 2005, when information on the provision of digital hearing aids will be available centrally.

Lewis Macdonald: This information will be published by the end of October 2005.

Digital Hearing Aids

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-10218 by Rhona Brankin on 16 November 2004, how many digital hearing aids have been drawn off the central contract in each year since 1999.

Lewis Macdonald: The number of digital hearing aids drawn off the central contract arranged by Scottish Healthcare Supplies since 1999 are shown in the following table:

  

Period
Number of Digital Hearing Aids


April 2000 – March 2001
163


April 2001 – March 2002
293


April 2002 – March 2003
595


April 2003 – March 2004
19,079


April 2004 – March 2005
38,015


Total
58,145

Digital Hearing Aids

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what training is given in the tuning of digital hearing aids.

Lewis Macdonald: A two-day training course on modernised patient journey techniques run by representatives from the Modernising Hearing Aid Services (MHAS) programme in England is provided to audiology staff. The suppliers of digital hearing aids also provide training locally when requested.

Digital Hearing Aids

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is a prescribed number of tuning sessions for digital hearing aids.

Lewis Macdonald: Guidance on the modernised patient journey, which is being introduced in all NHS board areas, states that patients should receive three appointments, namely an assessment, fitting and then a review where fine tuning will take place.

Digital Hearing Aids

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive who is professionally qualified to tune hearing aids.

Lewis Macdonald: Audiologists (Medical Technical Officers) within audiology departments are qualified and will carry out tuning of hearing aids.

Digital Hearing Aids

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of any problems being experienced by users of digital hearing aids in having them properly tuned.

Lewis Macdonald: The Executive is not aware of any problems being experienced by users of digital hearing aids in having them properly tuned. If any issues are brought to our attention, they will be addressed by the Executive’s Audiology Modernisation Project.

Drug Misuse

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17718 by George Lyon on 22 July 2005, what the reasons were for methadone being a factor in methadone-related drug deaths and whether any prosecutions are being considered as a result.

Hugh Henry: The National Investigation into Drug-Related Deaths in 2003 has shown that poly-drug misuse remains the main cause of death and that few deaths are caused by methadone alone. Further research is required to establish why individual drugs from a mixture of substances ingested contribute to death.

  According to information from Scottish police forces, only one prosecution is pending for the supply of methadone leading to a drugs death. Where criminal proceedings are taken in these circumstances, the charge libelled will be that of culpable homicide.

Meat Industry

Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what checks are made on the traceability and health criteria in respect of importing beef from Brazil and Argentina.

Ross Finnie: The rules governing the importation to the EU of meat and meat products from third countries, including Brazil and Argentina, are laid down in Council Directive 1972/462/EEC (as amended).

  The Directive requires, amongst other things, that each consignment is accompanied by a Public Health Certificate which contains information about the origin of the meat or meat products, and a health attestation that they comply with the requirements laid down in the directive. Consignments must also be inspected by a veterinary inspector at the point of entry into the EU.

Meat Industry

Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what information is published in order to compare the traceability and health criteria in respect of importing beef from (a) other EU countries and (b) South America with Scottish produce.

Ross Finnie: No such information is collected.

People with Learning Disabilities

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many service users, their carers and parents are represented on The same as you? National Implementation Group and short-life working groups on children, employment, hospital closure, day centres and advocacy.

Lewis Macdonald: The same as you?  National Implementation Group has 25 members, seven of whom are people who use services or family carers. In addition, implementation is supported by a National Users and Carers Group which has 18 members, 12 of whom are people who use services or family carers. The membership of short-life working groups has varied over the life of each group depending on the issues being considered and the availability of members. However, on average the number of members for each group who were people who use services or family carers was as follows:

  
Hospital Closure, 2 
  Employment, 3
  (Both groups completed their work in December 2003.)
Advocacy, 4
  Children, 3
  Day services, 2.


  Members who represent voluntary organisations on the groups may also have personal experience of caring for a person with learning disabilities. All group members who have a learning disability are supported at meetings by support workers from the organisations they represent.

  In addition to actual representation on the groups, many people who use services, carers, and parents contribute to the work of the groups through a variety of means, such as workshops, conferences or questionnaires.

Prison Service

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost has been of claims made by prisoners as a result of slopping out.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  £4,250, excluding legal costs and interest for claims citing "slopping out" among the contributory factors.

Prison Service

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost has been of defending claims made by prisoners as a result of slopping out.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  From 1 April 2003 to 23 August 2005, SPS has incurred separately identifiable costs of £1.9 million in defending legal challenges to prison conditions based on the European Convention of Human Rights. Most such challenges have referred to "slopping out".

Security Industry

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken since the introduction of the Private Security Industry Act 2001 to ensure that private security firms in Scotland cannot be used as a cover for criminal activity.

Cathy Jamieson: Once licensing under the Private Security Industry Act 2001 is introduced, all persons working within the private security industry, whether in the frontline delivery of security services, or in the management of companies delivering these services, will require to be licensed by the Security Industry Authority (SIA). This will include a check on the applicant’s identity, criminal record and competence. A licence will not be granted if the SIA’s criteria are not met.

  It will be a criminal offence to operate without a licence or to employ someone who does not hold the correct SIA licence.